Expect the Unexpected!

What could possible go wrong? Threat and Error Management (TEM) is a vital part of anticipating problems and ensuring safe operations.

Welcome to Drone FEEDBACK Edition 10.

I hope you have had some good winter flying for pleasure, gathering data of one sort or another or perhaps doing trials for medical deliveries. Seasonal icing, fog and of course rain have been the main challenges the sector has had to overcome over the last few months. This has led to cold fingers trying to manipulate controllers and their myriad of buttons as well as small screens, batteries not lasting as long as they do at warmer times of the year, and other “gotchas” lying in wait for the unwary drone pilot.

In this issue we have a number of reports that were sent directly to CHIRP and we have kept our eyes open for some additional Human Factor related happenings that we feel would be useful to bring to the attention of the drone flying community. We have included a report from NASA and the UK AAIB, both of which exemplify situations that might happen to any of us and that involve Human Factors.

Whilst the days are now starting to get longer, we have been hampered by fog recently and although some of the latest drones alert you to “low visibility” these days don’t let that warning alone be the deciding factor for the decision to take-off or not. As we have noted in previous editions, propeller icing forms in a number of different scenarios so stay wary of that too when the temperature drops and you are flying in the early hours!

Human Factor related errors will however continue to creep into day-to-day operations and make life difficult. Let’s see if we can learn something from the occurrences described below.

Rupert Dent, Drone/UAS Programme Manager

Contents

• Unexpected Move Post Launch
• Collision During Swarming
• Inadvertent Flight Above 400ft
• Collision with Wind Turbine
• Flew Through Electricity Cables